Nonconventional Phases of Colloidal Nanorods with a Soft Corona
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APS
Date
2021Referencia bibliográfica
Physical Review Letters, 126, 158001, 2021
Sponsorship
European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant No. 676045 (MULTIMAT)Abstract
Using computer simulations, we investigate the phase behavior of hard-core spherocylinders with a length-to-diameter ratio 𝐿��/𝜎�� =5 and coated by a soft deformable corona of length 𝜆��/𝜎�� =1.35. When quasi-two-dimensional layers are formed in smectic and solid phases at low temperatures, the competition between the two intrinsic length scales of the parallel aligned particles leads to the stabilization of different in-plane lattices of nonconventional symmetry, including low-density hexagonal, square, and high-density hexagonal crystals, as well as an intriguing dodecagonal quasicrystal. Our Letter opens up the opportunity to control the assembly of anisotropic nanoparticles into structures with preengineered symmetry-dependent physical properties.